U.S. needs health reform to stand

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

April 05, 2012

Should the Supreme Court strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it can be anticipated that the number of citizens unable to afford health insurance may rise to 50 million. Personal bankruptcies will increase and more of the gross domestic product will be consumed by unfettered health care costs.

Given that chronically ill people are at a disadvantage in finding and maintaining stable work (and such unemployment thus reduces tax revenues), it appears that the health care crisis poses an extreme risk to the ability of this nation to carry out robust commerce; hence, the health care act would seem to fulfill a constitutional purpose to promote and protect commerce.

Also, doesn't the president have a duty to protect this nation against all threats foreign and domestic? The domestic threat to the country's economic future posed by the inability of millions of people to afford health care and the financial drain incurred by health care institutions in providing health care services to the uninsured (who generally postpone care due to lack of funds and later require more expensive treatment when they require emergency care), needs to be confronted and potential solutions boldly addressed. The health care act should be allowed to stand.

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Douglas StreichSouth Bend

Pull the plug

It is frustrating enough that at this late date The Tribune still feels the College Football Hall of Fame is a viable entity despite listing all of its shortcomings. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results? But what is more troubling is that our new mayor, who promised to break with the failed policies of previous administrations, could see any positives in maintaining this monument to a bad concept. Especially irksome is The Tribune stating that "no one has stepped forward with a good plan to reuse the building when the hall vacates" even though the mayor's office has been lobbied by various educators from our local universities and high schools, in addition to numerous residents, who have asked him to consider remaking the hall as a children's science and technology center, thereby truly bringing South Bend into the 21st century. Now is the time to see if our mayor really has a new vision for our town or is just nearsighted.

Jeffery AntkowiakSouth Bend

Consequences

Patrick Buchanan recently published a book, "Suicide of a Superpower," in which he lists some disturbing consequences of our stupidity in turning our great nation from a great federal republic to a waning third-rate country. He cites cases going back to the Founding Fathers who warned us of the dangers of not being vigilant, reckless spending, an ever-expanding government meddling in foreign nations' affairs, undeclared wars, illegal immigration and bad trade policies. Sadly, we are witnessing the fulfillment of these early warnings and appear totally incapable of turning the country around.

We watch our moral ship disappearing beneath the waters of our moral sewer as we sit silently by and permit loud voices to convince us that we must be tolerant of abhorrent behavior and practices. The foul language now used in radio and television would have resulted in public outrage two generations ago.

We can look to a simple cause of our moral, spiritual and national failure in one simple act when the Supreme Court threw God out of our schools. Since then we have begun our race to the end.

When and until we restore God in our everyday lives we must live with the same sense of security enjoyed by the passengers on the Titantic.